Cars account for half the oil consumed in the U. S. , about half the urban pollution and one fourth the greenhouse gases. They t

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问题     Cars account for half the oil consumed in the U. S. , about half the urban pollution and one fourth the greenhouse gases. They take a similar toll (损耗) of resources in other industrial nations and in the cities of the developing world. As vehicle use continues to increase in the coming decade, the U. S. and other countries will have to deal with these issues or else face unacceptable economic, health-related and political costs. It is unlikely that oil prices will remain at their current low level or that other nations will accept a large and growing U. S. contribution to global climatic change.
    Policymakers and industry have four options: reduce vehicle use, increase the efficiency and reduce the emissions of conventional gasoline-powered vehicles, switch to less harmful fuels, or find less polluting driving systems. The last of these—in particular, the introduction of vehicles powered by electricity—is ultimately the only sustainable (可持续的) option. The other alternatives are attractive in theory but in practice are either impractical or offer only marginal improvements. For example, reduced vehicle use could solve traffic problems and a host of social and environmental problems, but evidence from around the world suggests that it is very difficult to make people give up their cars to any significant extent. In the U. S. , mass-transit ridership and carpooling (合伙用车) have declined since World War II. Even in western Europe, with fuel prices averaging more than $ 1 a liter (about $ 4 a gallon) and with easily accessible mass transit and dense populations, cars still account for 80 percent of all passenger travel.
    Improved energy efficiency is also appealing, but automotive fuel economy has barely made any progress in 10 years. Alternative fuels such as natural gas, burned in internal-combustion engines, could be introduced at relatively low cost, but they would lead to only marginal (边缘的, 最低限度的) reductions in pollution and greenhouse emissions (especially because oil companies are already spending billions of dollars every year to develop less polluting types of gasoline).
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

选项 A、The decline of public transportation accounts for increased car use in western Europe.
B、Cars are popular in western Europe even though fuel prices are fairly high.
C、The reduction of vehicle use is the only sustainable option in densely populated western Europe.
D、Western European oil companies cannot sustain the cost of developing new-type fuels.

答案B

解析 是非题。根据第二段最后一句,在西欧虽然燃油价格很高,公共交通也很便捷,但私人汽车仍占据80%的旅行方式。故A的因果关系与此不符合,而B符合此意,是正确答案。第二段也讲到减少私人汽车使用是很难,所以不是C所说的意思;D也非短文最后一句之本意。
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